Earlier today, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Derek Roy to a 1-year, $4M contract. The deal--and the rfa's still on the Blues list of 'things to do' might mean a solid scoring winger shakes loose from the very deep St. Louis depth chart.

The Blues as we speak have have about 8M to sign the following rfa's:

R Chris Stewart, their leading scorer and a coveted PF

D Alex Pietrangelo, a franchise type defender coming into his own

This is going to be close, and I think there might be a chance for a club (oh, say the Oilers) to jump in and help St. Louis while also improving their own lot. As we've discussed for ages, and MacT has mentioned many times, the Oilers need a complementary player to go with the fab five (Hall, Nuge, Yak City, Ebs, Gagner). The internal candidates are:

Magnus Paajarvi, a solid young player but thought to be shy offensively.

Ryan Jones, recently signed and possessing offensive ability

Jesse Joensu, newly signed big man who has a nice range of skills but lacks NHL success

Ales Hemsky, thought to be headed out of town but only if a replacement can be found.

IS THERE A MATCH?

Jeff Gordon, St. Louis Post-Disptach: The Blues also engaged in some preliminary trade chatter as other teams checked in on goaltender Jaroslav Halak and winger David Perron.

Those rumblings appear to have re-started and with the signing of Roy this could be closer now. The Fourth Period repeated the Perron rumor as the weekend started and things could heat up at any time.

Perron is a very skilled forward who can play at a very high level. In 340 NHL games, he's scored 84-114-198, which works out to 20-28-48 per 82 games. Here is the Hockey News description of the player:

As you can see, there's some health issues--Perron has had concussion problems and he spent some time in Ken Hitchcock's doghouse last season. Still, there's a talent player here.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

So far this summer, General Managers have had a terrible time making trades. However, the window of opportunity may be opening for Craig MacTavish. The St. Louis Blues may be willing to deal one of their skill forwards for a less expensive forward or a package of prospects. And this should take place in other NHL cities as teams near roster completion and find themselves up against the cap.

David Perron could have a new NHL address in the coming days, and other names may emerge. Edmonton has the trade assets, the cap room and the desire to make a bold move.

Stay tuned!

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Oilers are too weak up the middle, they are a lottery pick team for next season. Perron would be nice however Edmonton has enough skill in their top 6. What they are missing is a 2 way center. I'd rather take 1 step back and 2 steps forward. I'd be looking at Sean Couturier or Scott Laughton.
Philly is very strong up the middle Oilers need a potential 2nd line center.

Oilers are too weak up the middle, they are a lottery pick team for next season. Perron would be nice however Edmonton has enough skill in their top 6. What they are missing is a 2 way center. I'd rather take 1 step back and 2 steps forward. I'd be looking at Sean Couturier or Scott Laughton.
Philly is very strong up the middle Oilers need a potential 2nd line center.

Man people, Couturier is not available!!! why do you keep suggesting that!!

Perron doesn't really seem to be a match, he's not a C, nor is he a big winger.

Now if it were Berglund that would be a huge hell yes, and Stewart would be great too, depending on price.

Better yet, offer sheet the hell out of Pietrangelo.

Beat me to it... the Perron stuff.

And you already know the raging one I have for Pietrangelo, so I'd be all for that! Even though Armstrong said they'd match any offer. I'd test that they're really willing... to have a hope though, it will cost two first rounders, a 2nd and a 3rd rounder. Pricey. But Pietrangelo is the perfect D piece.

I couldn't imagine the cost to acquire either of Couturier or Schenn when we don't really have any good D that should be available. They are risky pick ups, especially Couturier, but I would definitely go for either though.

I've wanted Perron here ever since the year we missed drafting him - even more so than Gagner . But Gagner was still a good pick , but missing two picks later on Perron I was not impressed. Great if we get him , but not really a bold move .

Bold attempt at a bold move : 5Ft.6inch Gerbe let go by Buffalo - can he be the next 5 ft.6inch T.Fleury ? Worth a look ?

And you already know the raging one I have for Pietrangelo, so I'd be all for that! Even though Armstrong said they'd match any offer. I'd test that they're really willing... to have a hope though, it will cost two first rounders, a 2nd and a 3rd rounder. Pricey. But Pietrangelo is the perfect D piece.

And you already know the raging one I have for Pietrangelo, so I'd be all for that! Even though Armstrong said they'd match any offer. I'd test that they're really willing... to have a hope though, it will cost two first rounders, a 2nd and a 3rd rounder. Pricey. But Pietrangelo is the perfect D piece.

Maybe MacT can talk trade first and see if that goes anywhere.

I'd make sure that contract offer from the Oilers cost us 4 1st, or there is no way in hell it doesnt get matched.

What is Doughty making? Pietrangelo will get more. Maybe not a ton more, but he is a better defenseman, and a better piece to build a team around.

Offer sheet Petriangelo , and then Chris Stewart.
They will match Petriangelo but a $7 million for 8 years, isn't that far out.
After the match Petriangelo they might not be inclined to match on Stewart.
If they match both, trade assets for Berglund or Oshie.

Highly unlikely to happen, but would be a good plan.

More likely is approach them with a feasible trade, if talks are going well tell them of this intention and it will force their hand on some move

Offer sheet Petriangelo , and then Chris Stewart.
They will match Petriangelo but a $7 million for 8 years, isn't that far out.
After the match Petriangelo they might not be inclined to match on Stewart.
If they match both, trade assets for Berglund or Oshie.

Highly unlikely to happen, but would be a good plan.

More likely is approach them with a feasible trade, if talks are going well tell them of this intention and it will force their hand on some move

You can't just throw out multiple offer sheets.. you need the picks for both. Any offer sheets involved there would include the 2014 1st round pick.

And really, since DSF just rained on our parade, it seems that Pietrangelo isn't interested in offer sheets anyways.

I would definitely trade for Stewart though. But I think if that happens, it would create a jam on RW... I'm not confident any of our RW could play the left side... might have to move one.. perhaps Eberle in a different deal for big C or D

Just spitballing here...if what BobMac says is true about Schenn/Couturier

I love Justin Schultz but until this Eureka moment I've never even considered trading him buuuut, if Philly wants a young D with his upside so badly how about offering up something like Nultz and Jultz for Couturier/Schenn and Coburn? Sign Grabovski to replace Gagner at 2C to buy a little development time for Couturier/Schenn and suddenly we look amazing down the middle.

Gagner could then be shipped out in a package for a legit top pairing D.

Just spitballing here...if what BobMac says is true about Schenn/Couturier

I love Justin Schultz but until this Eureka moment I've never even considered trading him buuuut, if Philly wants a young D with his upside so badly how about offering up something like Nultz and Jultz for Couturier/Schenn and Coburn? Sign Grabovski to replace Gagner at 2C to buy a little development time for Couturier/Schenn and suddenly we look amazing down the middle.

Gagner could then be shipped out in a package for a legit top pairing D.

Hall Nuge Eberle
YTD Grabo Yak
PRV Couturier YTD
Smyth Gordon Jones

Coburn YTD
Smid Petry
Ference Belov

Bold.

I would do that. I do think Schultz will be a very good d-man, but you have to put the team first, and I think if the Oilers get Schenn+Coburn, this is a much better team than with the Schultzy twins.

Oilers are too weak up the middle, they are a lottery pick team for next season. Perron would be nice however Edmonton has enough skill in their top 6. What they are missing is a 2 way center. I'd rather take 1 step back and 2 steps forward. I'd be looking at Sean Couturier or Scott Laughton.
Philly is very strong up the middle Oilers need a potential 2nd line center.

Couturier is way over valued. Yes he has potential, but he's way over valued. He scored a pathetic 4 goal last year.

In 123 games, he's averaged 0.34 points a game. You need much more production out of your second line center. More size and more jam mean nothing if you can't produce in a second line role.

Not to mention that he has a very reasonable cap hit under 1.5 million and would not be moved for "cap reasons".

No, but I don't think it gets done with Petry, next years first defeats the purpose of the deal for Philly, they want a high end D man that has offense. Even with Jultz in it I suspect we'd have to sweeten the deal a bit more for philly to bite.

The reason I do it is because I think we could use Gagner+ in a separate deal for a first pairing D.

I would do that. I do think Schultz will be a very good d-man, but you have to put the team first, and I think if the Oilers get Schenn+Coburn, this is a much better team than with the Schultzy twins.

Now would Philly do it...?

The optics of trading Justin Schultz this soon after he choose Edmonton over everyone else would be horrible. Edmonton can not afford to do that. He is untradeable for a while, unless he requests. Then he has the bad optics because he would spurn two organizations in a short time. In my mind he has effectively got a no trade clause. Not sure how long but at least until he has a new deal.

Also what has Schenn proven, we don't know he is even better than Gagner or even as good. Why not sign Gagner and Grabovski without waiting for another few years for one of Schenn or courterier to develop

Phoenix is actually in cap difficulty, with only $9MM for 6 players. Salaries in this deal are a saw-off, but Phoenix gets an extra D-man and are only locking in to all of these guys for 1 year, while we take Yandle's remaining 3 years and Vermette's 2, so the Yotes also get flexibility. Ribeiro also gets some high-end offensive talent to play with as well.

The optics of trading Justin Schultz this soon after he choose Edmonton over everyone else would be horrible. Edmonton can not afford to do that. He is untradeable for a while, unless he requests. Then he has the bad optics because he would spurn two organizations in a short time. In my mind he has effectively got a no trade clause. Not sure how long but at least until he has a new deal.

Also what has Schenn proven, we don't know he is even better than Gagner or even as good. Why not sign Gagner and Grabovski without waiting for another few years for one of Schenn or courterier to develop

Starting with the optics... this isn't setting a precedent here. But that said, Justin Schultz was mentioned by gr8one because we really need to give to get. If Petry got the deal done, I'd sub him in. If Klefbom could, I'd pick him. But I don't think that's the case. I would start with Klefbom+Nick Schultz, and if that did it, great... if not.. work to J.Schultz + N.Schultz.

The question about what Schenn has proven could also apply to Justin Schultz, although my gut does say that he'll be a very good offensive d-man. Not sure how good just yet. Same goes for Schenn, it's a gut thing, with a lot of it based on his high compete level (Eberle-like, in that regard).

I think Brayden Schenn has shown in junior that he brings a lot more to the table than just offense (And last year, his offense was pretty good for a 2nd year player). He's also a two-way centre. I think he'd bring what we need.

I think gr8one is just being realistic as to what it would take to land both Coburn and Schenn (my preference over Couturier, to be honest). It's a deal all about making either team better. Both give up a lot, IMHO, but both should improve by the deal.

The biggest downside to moving "Jultz" for me is that it creates a hole at RHD... might be hard to fill that.

Phoenix is actually in cap difficulty, with only $9MM for 6 players. Salaries in this deal are a saw-off, but Phoenix gets an extra D-man and are only locking in to all of these guys for 1 year, while we take Yandle's remaining 3 years and Vermette's 2, so the Yotes also get flexibility. Ribeiro also gets some high-end offensive talent to play with as well.

I've said it before but there are the seeds of a deal here...

I would do it in a heart beat,help right away,I just hope that MacT has the thought process of you

Stewart will be next to impossible to acquire from the Blues, even with their cap/RFA situation. Look what it took Ottawa to pry Ryan out of Anaheim. Habs' GM Marc Bergevin summed it up well in this excerpt from a Globe and Mail article about the Canadiens' signing of George Parros:

"Fans were clamouring for the team to add skilled players who are big, but Bergevin said they’re the hardest to land.

“It’s really hard to get size,” he said. “Teams that have skilled guys with size don’t just give them away.

“If we had one, I’m sure I wouldn’t be shopping him around. If you think you can go in the market and get one, you may have to trade half your team and we’re not willing to do that. You have to draft well, be patient and bring those guys along.”

Polak, Jackman or Reaves seem like much more attainable targets for the Oilers.

I'd rather stick with J.Schultz based on how he tore the AHL a new one like no other rookie offensive Dman has in many moons. I don't give up players that show this type of potential unless it gives you a proven and elite player in return and I don't see that yet in Schenn or Couturier.